Darras v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.
Darras v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
William Darras (“William”) and his wife Violet (collectively “Darrases”) originally sued Trans World Airlines, Inc. (“TWA”) and Cove Travel, Inc. (“Cove”) in the Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming damages suffered because William was a passenger on TWA’s aircraft hijacked at the Athens airport June 14, 1985. Initially TWA sought to remove the case to this District Court, and this Court’s September 30, 1985 memorandum opinion and order (the “Opinion”) sua sponte remanded the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Then on October 3, 1985 — still within the original 30-day removal period — both TWA and Cove joined in a second removal, curing the jurisdictional flaw found by the Opinion.
Now Darrases move for a second remand, asserting the federal-question jurisdiction relied on by defendants and adverted to in the Opinion is nonexistent.
There is no question as to the status of the Warsaw Convention (the “Convention”) as a treaty, which defines the rights and duties of international air carriers in transporting passengers and personal property.
Darrases seek to characterize William’s claim against TWA as brought under the Agreement rather than the Convention— but that is really a mischaracterization. All the Agreement did was to increase the liability limits of the Convention, leaving the Convention’s substantive provisions intact. It is the Convention, not the Agreement, that creates William’s cause of action (Art. 17), and several other Convention Articles (such as Arts. 25, 28 and 29) define terms and conditions of that cause of action. See Air France v. Saks, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 1338, 1341-47, 84 L.Ed.2d 289 (1985).
Accordingly William’s claim must be viewed as “arising under” the Convention as modified by the Agreement, not under the Agreement alone. That conclusion follows readily from Justice Holmes’ classic and often-reaffirmed definition in American Well Works Co. v. Layne & Bowler Co., 241 U.S. 257, 260, 36 S.Ct. 585, 586, 60 L.Ed. 987 (1916):
A suit arises under the law that creates the cause of action.
Indeed, later cases interpreting 28 U.S.C. § 1331 in the removal context have defined “arising under” even more broadly. See, e.g., Franchise Tax Board v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 8-9, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 2845-46, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983) and this Court’s opinion in Frye v. General Finance Cory., 35 B.R. 742, 744-45 (N.D.Ill. 1983).
That conclusion brings into play the principle expressed by this Court in Dorizas. Because federal-question jurisdiction exists, Darrases’ motion to remand is denied.
. Because Darrases and Cove are Illinois citizens, diversity of citizenship is lacking.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- William J. DARRAS and Violet W. Darras v. TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC. and Cove Travel, Inc.
- Status
- Published